Engineering students learn to prevent hacking

Gangtok, Jan 6 (UNI) Who is this? Punches Rajiv Berlia, a IInd year IT student from Jadavpur University in his computer as he tried to trace a stimulated hacking bid that entered his server at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Techonolgy(SMIT) at Mazitar, 40 km from here.

Immediately, the last few footprints of the hacker flashes on his monitor. With this preliminary information, Berlia and his teammates tried to sniff out the unauthorised intruder, while at the same time, plugging the hole on his server, through which the entry was made.

All this under the watchful eyes and guidance of the chief resource person Swapan Purkait of Nettech.

Berlia and his mates were a part of the 80-student team from different engineering colleges, who had assembled at SMIT for an 18-day training programme in Network Management and Ethical Hacking organised by Nettech.

The students had been divided into 10 groups. Each group is setting up a secure DNS server to network computers at SMIT and has also to fend off challenges from other groups from hacking their server.

Nettech is a three-year body of IT professionals working as faculty in different engineering institutes, including the IIT. The body organises workshops for students in the country with an objective of disseminating information on ethical hacking and to encourage students towards developing secure IT systems and networking programme based on Linux.

''By the end of the training program students will be able to design a Computer Lab which will not have any windows machine. It will be all Linux,'' said Sunayana Shetty, program co-ordinator, Nettech to UNI.

''The goal of an Ethical Hacker is to help the organisation take preemptive measures against malicious attacks by attacking the system himself; all the while staying within legal limits,'' said Swapan Purkait, the chief resource person.

''We also made them aware of the legal provisions and the penalties that attract for a hacker under IT Act, 2005,'' said Prukait adding that hackers can be caught.

''Though I am not sure whether I will specialise in network systems in future but I want to be learn to make sure that my system is secure,'' said Ushashi Chakraborty, a 4th year engineering student from Future Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata.

The students, as a part of the workshop, went white water rafting along the Teesta river and acquired basic mountaineering skills from the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.

With cyber crimes on an increase in the country, Nettech organises such awareness-cum-training for the engineering students and has already conducted five such this year. It will be include the lower lever stakeholder like internet service providers, government employees and entrepreneurs during a similar exercise at Goa on February.